10 February 2012

﻿Froglife is teaming up with embe restaurant in Peterborough for a night of food, fun and music. ﻿﻿

Have you ever tried juicy vegetable jambalaya or crunched a christophine? Are you curious about jerk chicken or puzzled by plantain?

Here’s your chance to sample some African and Caribbean food whilst enjoying entertainment, socialising AND helping wildlife at the same time! What better way to celebrate the extra day in the month?

Join us for Leap Frog Day from 6pm on Wednesday 29th February for a buffet of fabulous starters and main courses of African and Caribbean cuisine, a quiz and a raffle. There will also be acoustic music from Nik Robson and Charlie Alexander.

Tickets are £12.95 a head and are available from the Froglife website, or you can pop into embe: 2 Burghley Road, Peterborough, PE1 2QB.

A percentage of the profits and donations on the night will help support our work – protecting wildlife and providing opportunities for people to find their wild side!

Part of our fundraising fun in 2012, the evening will also give you the chance to meet some of the Froglife team and find out about more our work and the wildlife we support. The event also ties in with Amphibian Ark’s global Leaping Ahead of Extinction celebrations, raising awareness about the threats facing amphibians across the world.

8 February 2012

Froglife is growing a list of 12 ideas to help amphibians and reptiles in 2012. There are all sorts of things you can do to help wildlife in general, and amphibians and reptiles in particular. We’re sharing tips for our favourite actions you can be part of, and here is the second in our list of ideas.

Idea Number 2.Get Involved with a Nature Reserve.

Volunteers in the amazing landscape of Hampton Nature Reserve

Froglife manages Hampton Nature Reserve in Peterborough, and we know we would struggle to keep on top of the work load without the incredible volunteers that come out to lend a hand. We are looking for volunteers to help in a number of different ways and you can find out more here. If you’re not in our neck of the woods, you can find a list of local sites through the Wildlife Trust, the Woodland Trust, the RSPB,the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust and many other organisations. Anywhere with a pond or wetland areas is likely to also have amphibians, and scrubby or heathland sites may have reptiles.

Tasks can be physical and muddy to help keep the habitat in top shape, involve surveying and exploring to keep records on the site, or helping other people to get out and about. It can be a great way to get some exercise and meet new people, whilst making a real difference.

Froglife’s Rebecca Neal also volunteers in public engagement work on a nature reserve. “I think it is really important to give ordinary people a positive experience outside,” explains Rebecca. “This might be signposting them to suitable walk, telling them amazing facts about wildlife or building mini shelters for action men with children. The more comfortable people feel in the natural world, the more likely they are to be interested in conserving it.”

Volunteer and Froglife trustee Frank Clark shares how he came to volunteer for us: “I was retired, not long returned from living in Italy when my wife and I followed our son and moved to Hampton. It was a case of what to do with ALL my time every day. Instead of garden centres, shopping trips and TV watching I chose to volunteer. First choice was Froglife and Hampton Nature Reserve right on my doorstep. Five years on I have developed a more balanced “working” week. Plenty of time for HNR but also time with my wife and the additional task of helping with babysitting our 3 young grandchildren – all still under 5 at the moment.

Frank and friends take a break on the Reserve

Now I visit HNR almost every morning to record the temperatures and check on the pump which controls the water levels. Once a week I walk round the reserve to check on any vandalism damage – caused both by humans and water voles. What has all this led to? I now have an interest in butterflies and birds, pond plants and, of course, amphibians and reptiles. My regrets? I would have liked to have been involved in conservation work much earlier. Be happy, volunteer!”

“So what, when you get right down to it, is an actual newt and what do they do?”

“I really want to dance like an idiot to cheesy music but clubbing’s not my scene.”

“It’s been my burning desire since I was small to hide under some camouflage netting and giant leaves, but where can I do it without ridicule?”

"If, like me, thoughts like these keep you awake at night then worry no longer! The remedy is just around the corner.

Froglife and friends are putting together a mind-blowing interactive exhibition to celebrate National Science and Engineering Week called “The Dragons Den: A Year in the Life of a Newt”. In this total emersion experience you will don your very own newt tail and journey through “newt world” in character and learn about these strange animals as you go.
﻿

Join us on the 10th or 17th of March to think like a newt

﻿ You’ll race across the hunting ground to avoid being eaten by a giant snake, you’ll search out some tasty invertebrates to eat and hide out under some giant leaves. The best bit though, and the part which I am most looking forward to, is the section where you’ll pretend to be a boy newt and dance to attract a lady friend. (“Ah, ah, ah, ah, staying alive, staying alive…” I know you’re secretly throwing the shapes already). How often if a lifetime does an opportunity like that come along?